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Jon vom Neumann also comes to mind when thinking about brilliant people from the past century.

pixelpoet 5y ago
> Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe could not comprehend von Neumann's incredible intellect: "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man." There are plenty of smart humans, but John von Neumann was something else entirely. Like the author of the article concludes about Shannon, I wonder if we will ever see another "human" mind like that again.
- JackFr 5y ago
  >There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician. —Hans Bethe Seems like Bethe hung out with some elevated company.
  - MR4D 5y ago
    Backyard BBQ’s and cocktail parties must have been phenomenal. Just to be a fly on the wall. Wow.
pseudolus 5y ago
There's a new bio of von Neumann "The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann" coming out in February in the US. [0] If you're impatient you can order a copy from Amazon's UK site where it's been available since October. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Man-Future-Visionary-Life-Neumann/dp/1324003995 https://www.amazon.com/Man-Future-Visionary-Life-Neumann/dp/...
bluetwo 5y ago
I was chatting about him with a friend and pointing out all the things in the room influenced by him. Of course he led a pretty normal life, so no one is going to make a "Beautiful Mind" type movie about him. Other than playing his record player too loud in his office and having wild martini happy hours with his wife and friends, I can't find anything controversial about him.
- AQuantized 5y ago
  Driving around while reading the newspaper and getting into frequent crashes, and advocating for the immediate nuclear annihilation of Russia, are at least 2 other controversial pastimes.

> Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe could not comprehend von Neumann's incredible intellect: "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man." There are plenty of smart humans, but John von Neumann was something else entirely. Like the author of the article concludes about Shannon, I wonder if we will ever see another "human" mind like that again.

JackFr 5y ago
>There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician. —Hans Bethe Seems like Bethe hung out with some elevated company.
- MR4D 5y ago
  Backyard BBQ’s and cocktail parties must have been phenomenal. Just to be a fly on the wall. Wow.

pseudolus 5y ago

There's a new bio of von Neumann "The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann" coming out in February in the US. [0] If you're impatient you can order a copy from Amazon's UK site where it's been available since October. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Man-Future-Visionary-Life-Neumann/dp/1324003995 https://www.amazon.com/Man-Future-Visionary-Life-Neumann/dp/...

bluetwo 5y ago

I was chatting about him with a friend and pointing out all the things in the room influenced by him. Of course he led a pretty normal life, so no one is going to make a "Beautiful Mind" type movie about him. Other than playing his record player too loud in his office and having wild martini happy hours with his wife and friends, I can't find anything controversial about him.

AQuantized 5y ago
Driving around while reading the newspaper and getting into frequent crashes, and advocating for the immediate nuclear annihilation of Russia, are at least 2 other controversial pastimes.